Saturday, April 25, 2015

I was made aware of a new Pin Loom Weaving book this week and I had to have it. This one has patterns for lots of different designs and I would like to make a sampler blanket. I have some wool yarn that's very fine and I'm going to experiment and see if it will make a nice looking block.

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another project will be started. the bottom book is the new one.

Did some more paper play in Karen Ruane's class Reinventing the Page.

the center is crumpled tracing paper with pen and stitch on the surface

the full designed page

I finished one of the pouches from long ago. I added a needle threader to a length of yarn that is permanently attached. I'm always searching for a needle threader and I try to put one in every sewing pouch.

pouch front

pouch back

UPDATE: just to say that I found these needle threaders at Joann's (US). also, if you hold onto the wire part of the needle threader when you are pulling through the needle, the wire will not come loose from its plastic holder. my needle threaders last me a very long time.

....and I did sew up that first redwork hat quilt block. It turned out to be 15" square and I'm now ready to stitch 3 more like it with different hat centers. I'm designing as I go so there is no real plan or size in mind. I do know that black and white check fabric will appear somewhere.

15" square

ready for stitching

We hit 91 degrees today. Summer is on its way too soon. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Friday, April 17, 2015

I started a new class with Karen Ruane this week....Reinventing the Page....you can find the details here. As usual, it has taken over my attention with all the different forms of paper play that Karen is demonstrating. I started out with inspiration from some fabric I've had for years and some paper and fabric play from an earlier class.

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inspiration from fabric and previous paper and paint play

forming a design

a repeat pattern

Lots more experimenting to be done. This is just a start...

I didn't get very far with that hat quilt block I talked about last time....but, I have decided on how the first block will go together. I'm thinking those empty square spots will be white. I haven't cut those out yet.

hat quilt block

I'm slowly working on my bobbin lace tree. It's slow going since I only work on it once a week when I go to lace class but I'm happy with the way it's progressing.

bobbin lace tree

The garden is doing well and we are lucky to have been getting some rain so no need for very much watering. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday, April 10, 2015

so my plans to spread mulch have been squashed. It will give me time to continue going through all my fabric and deciding what to keep and what to give away. I have taken a whole carton of fabric to quilt bee this week and shared with my quilting friends. There will be more to share as I go through it all. I am determined to, once again, have a house that is neat and organized....well, relatively speaking.

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what to keep and what to give away is the dilemma...

I came across a couple of projects that never were completed....actually one was never started so I've made an attempt...

red hats

I have 12 of these embroidered hats ( 6 different varieties ) that i bought on ebay many years ago. I'm trying to draw a quilting block to start putting this together. Red is not a color I'm really comfortable working with but I'm going to get this done. I always like adding black and white and have lots of different black and white checkered fabrics. I hope to have at least one block done by my next post. If you have any ideas, please share them. I'm very open to suggestions.

Also found this little project I had started in one of Jude Hill's classes. Hoping to get 2 pouches made after doing a bit more stitching.

the backgrounds are upholstery type fabric

....and I'm still playing with the PDF doodle download that Karen Ruane has in her shop. You can find it here. So many possibilities....

the doodle printed on some of my hand dyed cloth

also printed on cardstock and tissue paper for wrapping small gifts...

I'd better get busy before the day is gone. Time seems to be moving too quickly, lately.
Hope you all have a great weekend. Create something....anything....it always give me a lift and i bet it will do the same for you.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Pockets are so handy in any form. I finished up one of the pockets I started last week....

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pink dupioni silk embellished with parts of an old hanky, my own printed cloth, lace and stitching

the other side....cording to mimic strings of a mandolin and hard to see all the stitching done here.

Karen Ruane is selling a PDF download of one of her doodles here. I have so many ideas on how to use this. So far, I've printed it on dupioni silk and made myself a little pocket for a small knitting project. There are so many different ways to use this and she talks about that here. Go on over and check it out. Here's the pocket I made this morning.

a silk pocket using Karen Ruane's PDF download

Once a year, my quilting bee has a gift exchange. We had such a wonderful time and exchanged so many beautiful items. Here's a pic of all of us. We sure do look happy in this picture....don't we....that's me in the white blouse up front.

Simply Quilters bee

Some of us stopped at a local quilt shop on the way home and there were some things I couldn't resist.

The garden is doing well and I actually picked Swiss Chard for my salad this week. It will be awhile before anything else is ready for picking. The temperature reaches 80 almost every day. It does feel wonderful spending some time outdoors this time of year.